Hearing Monday

NUTGRAPH: The proposed fees, ranging from $1,964 to $3,214, represent only 20 percent of the actual cost of bringing services to a new residence, officials say.

By Julie McCormick

Sun Staff

The Kitsap County Board of Commissioners will take another look Monday at impact fees, pay-as-you-grow charges permitted by the Growth Management Act.

The proposed schedule of fees to builders and developers would add between $1,964 and $3,214 to the cost of building most new homes in the unincorporated part of the county, where two-thirds of the population live.

Charges vary depending upon size and type of home and are designed to help pay for roads, parks and school needs generated by newcomers, especially in undeveloped areas where new services must be provided. Commercial development would pay a road fee only.

The proposed fees reflect only about 20 percent of the real cost of the new services, said Ron Perkerewicz, director of the Department of Community Development.

That's about what the development industry thought it could live with and the school districts could accept as a reasonable offset to their costs, he said.

School districts began lobbying hard for impact fees in 1990, led by the Bainbridge Island district. Before island incorporation, the district threatened to challenge every proposed residential permit based on the State Environmental Policy Act.

The new island government recently approved a school fee of $700 per multiple-family residential units and $2,200 per single-family home.

The Bainbridge district argued that the Growth Management Act and SEPA required local jurisdictions to issue formal findings that appropriate provisions had been made for schools before approving new residential development, and, in the absence of impact fees, overcrowded districts had a good chance of challenging such a finding in court.

With agreement of districts and developers, the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners last March passed an interim ordinance approving fees, with exact amounts to be negotiated.

Since then, Perkerewicz and consultant James Metcalf have been negotiating the fee schedule.

Negotiations reached fruition Wednesday with a tentative agreement on the new fee schedule. But industry and the school districts still have some problems with the details.

Kitsap County Association of Realtors President Mary Ellen Hooks said she'll be at Monday's meeting to testify that Realtors liked an earlier, lower fee better.

Kevin Parnell, president of the Homebuilders Association of Kitsap County, said his organization still isn't completely comfortable with the basis of the schools' cost analysis.

Mart

Kask, a consultant with the local districts, said they support the latest fee schedule but would argue for some added conditions in the ordinance. He declined to discuss them until he testifies Monday.

The board will have a public hearing on the impact fees at 1:30 Monday in their chambers at the County Courthouse in Port Orchard. The board is not expected to vote on the proposal immediately and an additional evening hearing is likely to be scheduled.

***

1. Who pays the development fees?

Answer. Initially, builders and developers will pay when a building permit is issued.

The fees for building permits issued since the original ordinance of March 11, 1991, will be paid after the final ordinance is approved by county commissioners, if it is approved.

Exemptions must meet two criteria: permits applied for before the final ordinance is approved and for plats or lots created before March 11, 1991.

How much of the added cost is passed along to buyers depends on the nature of the local housing market, real estate economists say.

Eventually, new homebuyers will find the cost passed along to them either through higher prices or some reduction in amenities available, builders say.

The long-term impact may be somewhat more complicated, however.

Economist James McIntire at the University of Washington says ultimately the cost of impact fees are born by the entire housing market -- renters, and buyers of both new and used houses, landowners, builders and developers.

"In a boom market, the full impact fee is probably going to be passed along to the homebuyer and in doing so will probably help to drive up the cost of all housing 2. Will the county's cities impose the same fees?

Answer: The cities all contributed to the county's consultant cost.

Bainbridge Island has fees in place. Bremerton and Port Orchard officials say they will be more likely to propose school fees first and look at other fees later. Poulsbo's planning director, Larry Stockton, said he expects to propose a school fee to the City Council once the county has acted. Poulsbo is revising its 10-year-old parks fee and awaiting the facilities plan from its public works officials that would be the basis for a roads fee.

Here's the schedule proposed for the impact fee ordinance to be heard by the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners:

Roads: $523

Parks: $491

Schools:

>b All mobile homes and permanent residences with less than 1,500 square feet: $950

Permanent residences from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet: $1,350

Residences larger than 2,000 square feet: $2,200

Fees collected would add $1.14 million to county coffers for parks and $1.21 million for roads, based on the 1991 building activity. The county's four school districts would split approximately $3 million.

***

More Reading...

By Julie McCormick Sun Staff There's been a rush for home building permits in the last few weeks, Kitsap County officials report, by individual lot owners trying to beat the April 1 impact fee deadline. The new fees go into effect that day to ... [Read More...]

Compromise sought on amount of impact fees >b The board of commissioners is trying to work out a compromise on proposed school impact fees -- something between the $3,000 recommended by school officials and the $960 proposed by county staff. By Jack Swanson Sun ... [Read More...]

>n Part of Kitsap County's impact fees may be invalid, according to one attorney. By Julie McCormick Sun Staff If his attorney is right, one man's appeal of the county's impact fee regulations could mean about $35,000 of refunds due some people who ... [Read More...]

* Questions remain about what money county officials can spend. Now that Kitsap County's comprehensive plan complies with state growth law for the first time, commissioners are preparing to take on impact fees on two fronts. The county has been unable to spend impact ... [Read More...]

HEADLINE: Cost of growth: who pays, how? NUT: Bainbridge Island Mayor Sam Granato advised local govirnments they may want to take a longer look at impact fees before they adopt them to help pay for growth. By Julie McCormick Sun Staff Everyone seemed ... [Read More...]